Bill - Sorry to hear FedUp struck again. And on Valentine's Day no less.

But, look what I got in the mail today!


That inspired me to do something that would let me forget the eye. Here's the top end of a DS-II's shaft turned down to .250":


Then I put a few screwy lines on:


Then a coupling nut:


And a little hot metal:


And then it endured a test with my drill. Let's just say that the weld is stronger than my wrists, plural. So now it's resting here until Monday. Then it has a date with the USPS.

 

I've put a few engines in show cars/trucks in my day but am personally rather function over form guy so I have my opinions on color scheme, finishes, etc. Of course it comes down to your preferences and how much you want to put into it but here's my tips.

Pick 3 colors/finishes -

The first of course has to be black, you can't not have black under the hood, some things just have to stay black. So go with it, embrace that fact, use it to your advantage. Anything you don't want to stand out, that needs to fade into the background so to speak finish in flat or satin black. This would be things like the inner fender wells,, frame, steering box, the DSII box, the wiper motor, the ugly ford PS pump if you not switching to saginaw, etc. THe finish however doesn't really have to be traditional paint, this is up to you but there are many forms of coatings, ceramic, powdercoats, etc, they just cost.

- My suggestion for you here is simple spray paint on some things and flat powder coat on others. Some things either can't be powder coated or are not worth it, but it is a much better finish. For example ya can't powder coat the wiper motor, the DSII box isn't worth it, but the steering box on the other hand is. Ohhh and for something like the steering box polish it smooth before coating in any fashion it comes out so much nicer.

Second is your shiny, you may find this odd, choose a shiny, go with me here a second. IMO something like natural or brushed aluminum next to a real nice chrome looks horrible. Like putting a faded red that now looks pink next to a new shiny red. If you decide you want a flat shiny like brushed or natural finishes then find a way to do that kind of thing on everything you want shiny. A good example is like the manifold and the alternator. Chrome alternators are common and cost effective, but a chrome alternator standing out here with a dull looking intake behind it makes the intake look horrible.

- So here I'd suggest a chrome finish or as close to it as you can on everything shiny. Doing both the manifold, heads, and valve covers, in the same finish, polish them all and send them out to be coated. What coating, the heads make it tricky cause the exhaust gets so hot, there are some ceramics that look fantastic and are very functional. Gloss clear powder coats IMO look great on polished aluminum.

Third is of course the color, simple enough, not a lot to be said but to share a trick and a preference. The tip is that same paint used on the body can be used on the engine. Many will use a detail sprayer and double the amount of hardener used in the mix. This will tend to make for a finish that will hold up on the engine block. The preference is I find that sanding down and smoothing out the casting on things like the block makes for a very nice finish.

- So here I'd suggest all intermediate items be painted in your color choice, that is the block, water pump, brackets, etc. And that the block and water pump both be polished smooth before painting.

A note on hardware, chrome hardware has it's place but everywhere on an engine isn't it. All the intermediate hardware such as things like water pump and bracket bolts should be painted so they fade in, preferably painted after assembly. Chrome hardware should be used to mount chrome parts, so things like the intake manifold and valve cover bolts should be chrome. Things like chrome hardware and chrome alternators are why I suggest going with chrome over brushed or natural for your shiny finish. Ya can easily get this stuff in chrome, good luck finding a bolt head that looks good holding down a dull manifold.

 

Stainless steel works nicely for shiny bolt heads. Gary, I think it will be Tuesday, Monday is Nixon's birthday.

 

Or just put the stainless bolts in the glass bead cabinet if you want to match the aluminum heads and manifold.

When it was the Aussie heads I was all for a blue engine with black brackets and just an accent of aluminum valve covers.
With aluminum heads and valve covers I could see leaving the intake aluminum too.

What are you doing for headers?

 

If you leave the intake bare, at least powder coat it clear. They are a pain in the butt to clean when left bare and they get stained and dirty easily.

 

I high temp clearcoated mine, it's still stained and dirty.

(but it fits right in with the rest of the truck)

 

I clearcoated the head and accessory brackets on the T-II engine, it would clean up nicely.

 

Brute - Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Bill - I forgot about President's Day. Tuesday it is. Thanks for the tensioner.

Jim/Matthew - Sorry, missed your posts. Header - I don't know yet but would like to Jet Coat them. And I agree on the clear coat - much easier to clean.

 

Apparently I overdid it yesterday. I donned a wrap-around pair of sun glasses and we did some running around on a bright, sunny day. Today I am hiding in a dark room and can't stand to read from this iPad for more than a few minutes at a time - and the brightness is as low as it goes. Guess I won't do that again soon.

But, along the way I contacted Tim, three ways. First, I filled out his spreadsheet with everything for the order, including some things that he didn't list but says he can get. One of those is ARP fasteners, including a stud for the oil pickup. And, I attached it to an email that included reminders about the discussions we've had. Hopefully Monday we can nail everything down and place the order.

Then I called him to let him know he has the email. During that conversation he said he'd just dyno'd a 400 at 511 ft-lbs and 469 hp. I didn't get all the specs but the heads were Procomp's and he said he's through with them. Apparently the valves were badly shrouded and required a lot of work to fix. He said the TFS heads I'm going with will be much better.

And, during the discussion he said he's been lurking on the Oiling System Mods thread in the 335 forum. He thought the diagrams were helpful and was glad to see the subject getting some discussion. Especially since you can read about so many exotic things to do when all it takes is a few minor mods. So I asked him to chime in on that thread and he did so today and basically said the same thing he told me. But he added that the engine they had on the dyno idled at 40 psi when hot. To me that's proof the mods work as Rusty idles at 15 and he doesn't have 10,000 miles on him. I'm sold!

 

What RPM does Rusty idle at? I get 20 at about 525-550 RPM when the engine is good and hot on an 80 degree day. If I increase the RPM 200 RPM it goes up to about 35 PSI. Then above 1000 RPM it's 50 and above.

 

Rusty idles between 550 and 600. At 2000 R's he's running ~40 psi.

 

Mine's at 55-60 PSI at 2000-2500 R's. Never looked down at the gauge while running it beyond that.

 

That's the kind of pressure I'm used to in most engines. But these M/400's have lower pressure in my experience. Dad's engine had similar pressure to Rusty for all its life.

 

I almost bought two M block trucks with the factory gauge just barely running above L. Although those both ran like crap.

 

There may have been nothing seriously wrong with them that a good cam and timing set wouldn't cure. That oil pressure may not have been bad, for an M-block, and they don't run well at all w/the stock cam and timing set.